Jean Cocteau - Villa Santo Sospir - 2011

Publisher Michel de Maule 2011

In 1949, Francine Weisweiller met the poet Jean Cocteau during the filming of the movie based on his novel The Terrible Children. In 1950, she invited him to relax with his adopted son, Édouard Dermit, at her villa in Cap Ferrat. After a few days, Cocteau, who could not stand idleness, asked if he could paint an Apollo head above the fireplace. One thing led to another, and he ended up covering all the walls of the villa with frescoes, drawing inspiration from themes ranging from Greco-Roman mythology to Renoir's *The Bathers*, from Pisanello’s drawings to subjects typical of the French Riviera. Until the end of his life (1963), Cocteau spent long periods at Villa Santo Sospir. At one point he wrote: "When I worked at Santo Sospir, I became myself, and these walls spoke for me." Cocteau dedicated a film to this villa, La Villa Santo-Sospir (36 min, 1952), in which Francine Weisweiller plays herself. The villa is now classified as a French historical monument.